Sierra Leone News: First gender nutrition trade fair commences

19 of january 2018

The Integrated Gender and Nutrition within the Agricultural Extension Services (INGENAES) project in Sierra Leone, is organizing a symposium at the Njala University Guest House, at Njala campus from 15-19 January 2018. The event brings together extension stakeholders to focus on how to promote gender and nutrition sensitive agricultural extensions.The symposium will play critical role in improving extension programs, reduce gender gaps in agricultural extension services, increasing empowerment of women farmers, and improving gender nutrition integration.The INGENAES project supported the United States Presidential Feed the Future Initiative that is led by the University of Illinois in USA, funded by the USAID and sub-awarded to Njala University. The project is housed in the Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, in Njala University. The project helped launch a Network of Extension Service Providers from the public, NGOs, and private sector as a key contributor in scaling-up gender and nutrition sensitive approaches in the agricultural development agenda in the country.According to the Project Coordinator, Makalay Saidiatu Sonda, the 5-day symposium is aimed at exploring and showcasing issues and strategies related to gender and nutrition in extension service delivery. She said the event would facilitate networking, information and knowledge exchange in agricultural extension among extension service providers in the region.Sonda said they would also use the event to advocate and lobby to government and other development partner to strengthening gender and nutrition sensitive approaches in agricultural extension.She revealed that participants are primarily extension service providers from the public, NGO and private sectors working together to improve gender nutrition within agricultural extension services in the region including public, private and civil society, Farmer Based Organizations, Community Based Organization, research and educational Institutions, INGEANES Network members, the media, USAID, FAO, UKAID, GIZ, SUN, GoSL and other development partners.The symposium called for inputs together with selection criteria with group work, share fare, skill building workshops, field trips and cocktail, dinner, music and pre and post-side events to be fed into the symposium week. There was a registration fee of $50 for International participants and Le150,000 for Network members and national partners which can be paid before or during the symposium.The official opening of the event is today with huge expectations from the organizers that their partners turnout will be commensurate to their expectations.MK/15/1/18By Mohamed KabbaTwitter:@chikakabbaFriday January 19, 2018.